A white NYC woman who plowed her BMW through 50 Manhattan BLM protestors last year has refused a plea deal and will now stand trial, even as protesters compare her to a female Kyle Rittenhouse.
Kathleen Casillo, 53, appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court on Wednesday after she was accused of driving into the pedestrians during the protest at the intersection of 39th Street and Third Avenue on December 11, 2020.
Casillo, of Howard Beach, Queens, has claimed the demonstrators had come up to her car and called her ‘a white privilege b**ch’ before banging on the vehicle. She told police at the time she had panicked and hit the gas as they started banging on the car and trying to pry open its doors.
Damage to the 2019 black BMW sedan is clearly visible in photos from the incident.
She was offered a deal which would have seen her complete six days community service, and have her license suspended for a year, but turned it down, meaning a jury will now decide the matter.
Casillo was issued no more than a desk appearance ticket for the incident and was released only hours after her arrest. Her 29-year-old daughter was also in the car at the time, but was not charged.
Casillo was also charged with reckless assault in the third degree on February 22.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Casillo and her attorney, Daniel Tanon, for comment.
Kathleen Casillo, 52, appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court on Wednesday after she was accused of driving through NYC BLM protestors on December 11, 2020
Casillo rejected the court’s offer for a plea deal which would have offered her six days of community service and one year license suspension, in favor of a trial
Following the incident, she initially received no more than a desk appearance ticket and was released hours after her arrest
In February, Casillo was charged with reckless assault in the third degree on February 22
Casillo was arrested by the NYPD after plowing her car through the ICE demonstration on December 11
BLM protestors also gathered outside of the court room on Wednesday as they awaited justice for Casillo’s actions.
She had been captured on video plowing through the demonstration last year which had left at least nine protestors wounded.
‘Last year on Dec. 11, Kathleen Casillo drove her car at top speed through a crowd of human beings. I was one of those human beings—I never saw her coming,’ Roque Rodriguez told AMNY.
‘She hit me flush from behind and set my body flying and flipping through the air and she kept driving.
‘It’s white supremacy that allowed Kathleen to believe she had the right to end the lives of anyone that got in her way, especially BLM protesters.’
‘It has been a very long year. Kathleen Castillo’s car left me with five bulging discs in my back and a traumatic brain injury,’ Tabitha Howell said.
‘It’s one thing to face physical recovery. It’s another to try to process what happened mentally and emotionally.’
BLM protestors gathered outside of the courtroom as they awaited justice for Casillo’s actions
Protestors had spoken out about the ‘leniency’ towards Casillo’s charges which had been given by Assistant District Attorney Andrew Mercer
Casillo had injured at least nine protestors after plowing her car through the demonstration
The protestors had also chastised Assistant District Attorney Andrew Mercer as they believed he had given Casillo a ‘lenient’ charge.
‘Andrew Mercer neglected to follow up with seven of the nine people who were directly hit and impacted by this crime,’ Rodriguez added.
‘You’ve never spoken to them. He did no due diligence, and instead assumed that Kathleen did not have bad intentions and that no one else was seriously harmed.’
In a statement to AMNY, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said: ‘Our office has attempted to speak with every victim in this case.’
But Casillo insists she was the victim, and says she only drove off after the protesters began attacking her car as she tried to move along a public road. She claimed at the time she panicked and hit the gas as protesters began banging on her car and trying to open the doors, the New York Daily News reported last year.
The group of protesters were holding a demonstration in Manhattan’s Murray Hill neighborhood to show support of those on hunger strike at an ICE facility in Bergen County, New Jersey.
Multiple people being held in the government facility have gone without food for four weeks now to draw attention to their poor treatment in the facility.
Casillo’s BMW had plowed through a crowd of about 50 people which had left multiple injured
Casillo claimed demonstrators had come up to her car and called her ‘a white privilege b**ch’ before banging on the vehicle. Damage to the car is clearly visible in this snap
A protester shouted at NYPD officers on the scene in the aftermath of the collision last year
A bike is seen laying at the intersection after Casillo had plowed through the intersection of East 39th Street and 3rd Avenue
Police blocked off the traffic on the scene of the accident last year as authorities tried to render aid to the injured protesters
One of the protesters was seen with his leg bandaged after Casillo’s car struck the group of protesters
An injured protester is seen being loaded into an ambulance following the incident
Multiple injured protestors were taken to Bellevue Hospital to be treated for their injuries
Video footage had captured the moment during the protest when Casillo then plowed her vehicle through the crowd.
The footage revealed a few protestors surrounding Casillo’s vehicle before the incident as a couple of them appeared to be banging on her car.
She had also claimed she did not remember hitting anybody when her foot was on the accelerator as she attempted to flee the scene.
Most of the injured protestors were taken to Bellevue Hospital to be treated for their injuries.
In the aftermath, a protester, Nicolle Besuden, was also arrested for interfering with an EMT rendering medical aid to one of the injured victims.
She was charged with disorderly conduct and obstruction of governmental administration, and was also given a desk appearance ticket.